J.B. Pritzker
Encyclopedia
Jay Robert Pritzker (born January 19, 1965) is a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, philanthropist and private business investor in the United States. He is managing partner and co-founder of The Pritzker Group, a private investment firm; founder of New World Ventures, an early-stage information technology investor; and principal owner of Hyatt Hotels Corporation and TransUnion
Corporation.
In 2011, the Forbes 400
Richest Americans list ranked him as the 159th richest person in the U.S. with an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion and the 692nd richest person in the world.
and then graduated from Duke University
with an A.B. in political science. Pritzker went on to earn his J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law
. Pritzker is an attorney and a member of the Illinois State Bar Association
and Chicago Bar Association
. He lives in Chicago, Illinois with his wife and children.
companies, principally focused on enterprise software
, IT infrastructure and IT managed services
. New World Ventures has invested in more than 50 companies, including data storage innovator Lefthand Networks, managed desktop software maker Everdream, online ticket seller TicketsNow
, sports and entertainment technology leader Sportvision
and eLearning platform provider eCollege
.
Pritzker played an important role in the creation of the Illinois Venture Capital Association, the nation's top regional private equity
association and in the creation of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center. He also co-founded the public/private Illinois Innovation Accelerator Fund. Pritzker has received awards and community recognition for his efforts to build a stronger technology sector in the Midwest.
He is also co-founder and managing partner of the Pritzker Group, a private investment firm acquiring late stage companies in a wide range of business sectors, including industrial manufacturing and distribution, business services, media and technology. Acquisitions have included aircraft safety products manufacturer Amsafe
, investment casting manufacturer Signicast and construction materials distributor Carter-Waters.
, he supported the creation of the Pritzker Consortium on Early Childhood Development at the University of Chicago
.
Along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
, the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, the Irving Harris
Foundation and the George Kaiser
Family Foundation, the Pritzker Family Foundation is a founding supporter of the First Five Years Fund, an organization focusing nationwide attention and resources on comprehensive, quality early care and learning programs for children from birth to age five.
As chairman of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center
, which opened in 2009, Pritzker successfully led the effort to build an international institution in the Midwest dedicated to teaching the lessons of the Holocaust
and other genocides. Pritzker is the principal funder of Cambodia Tribunal Monitor, the most significant online source for news and commentaries regarding the international criminal tribunal created to bring to justice the perpetrators of Pol Pot
era acts of genocide. He served as chairman of the Illinois Human Rights Commission, and was succeeded by former White House counsel and Federal Judge Abner J. Mikva
.
In 2011, Milton Academy dedicated the Pritzker Science Center for which Pritzker provided the lead gift. Pritzker is a trustee and serves on the investment committee of Northwestern University and is a member of the Board of Governors of Northwestern University School of Law. He is a trustee of the Field Museum of Natural History
and a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and the Commercial Club of Chicago
.
. He supported President Barack Obama
in the 2008 general election and helped bring the Clinton and Obama campaigns in Illinois together.
Pritzker founded Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century, a national organization dedicated to attracting voters under the age of 40 to the Democratic Party
. He also served on the legislative staff of U.S. Senator Terry Sanford
(D-NC), U.S. Senator Alan J. Dixon
(D-IL) and U.S. Congressman Tom Lantos
(D-CA), for whom he handled issues such as international trade, election reform and handgun control.
In 1998, he ran for U.S. Congress, principally focusing on the issues of education and gun control
, and lost in a heavily contested five-way primary in Illinois's 9th US Congressional district.
TransUnion
TransUnion is the third largest credit bureau in the United States, which offers credit-related information to potential creditors. Like major competitors Equifax and Experian, TransUnion markets credit reports directly to consumers.- History :...
Corporation.
In 2011, the Forbes 400
Forbes 400
The Forbes 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by Forbes Magazine magazine of the wealthiest 400 Americans, ranked by net worth. The list is published annually in September, and 2010 marks the 29th issue. The 400 was started by Malcom Forbes in 1982 and treats those in the list like...
Richest Americans list ranked him as the 159th richest person in the U.S. with an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion and the 692nd richest person in the world.
Background
Pritzker is a member of one of America’s wealthiest business families. He attended Massachusetts boarding school Milton AcademyMilton Academy
Milton Academy is a coeducational, independent preparatory, boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts consisting of a grade 9–12 Upper School and a grade K–8 Lower School. Boarding is offered starting in 9th grade...
and then graduated from Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
with an A.B. in political science. Pritzker went on to earn his J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law
Northwestern University School of Law
The Northwestern University School of Law is a private American law school in Chicago, Illinois. The law school was founded in 1859 as the Union College of Law of the Old University of Chicago. The first law school established in Chicago, it became jointly controlled by Northwestern University in...
. Pritzker is an attorney and a member of the Illinois State Bar Association
Illinois State Bar Association
The Illinois State Bar Association is the largest voluntary state bar association in the country. Approximately 30,000 lawyers are members of the ISBA. Unlike some state bar associations, in which membership is mandatory, ISBA membership is not required of lawyers licensed to practice in...
and Chicago Bar Association
Chicago Bar Association
Founded in 1874, the Chicago Bar Association is a voluntary bar association with over 20,000 members. Like other bar associations, it concerns itself with professional ethics, networking among members, and continuing legal education. It is located adjacent to the John Marshall Law School in the...
. He lives in Chicago, Illinois with his wife and children.
Business
Founded in 1996 and now among the Midwest’s leading venture capital firms, New World invests in early stage information technologyInformation technology
Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...
companies, principally focused on enterprise software
Enterprise software
Enterprise software, also known as enterprise application software , is software used in organizations, such as in a business or government, contrary to software chosen by individuals...
, IT infrastructure and IT managed services
Managed services
Managed services is the practice of transferring day-to-day related management responsibility as a strategic method for improved effective and efficient operations inclusive of Production Support and lifecycle build/maintenance activities...
. New World Ventures has invested in more than 50 companies, including data storage innovator Lefthand Networks, managed desktop software maker Everdream, online ticket seller TicketsNow
TicketsNow
TicketsNow, established in 1999 and based in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, is a marketplace for event tickets.TicketsNow was named in 2004 and 2006 to the Inc. 500 Index of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the U.S...
, sports and entertainment technology leader Sportvision
Sportvision
Sportvision is a private company that provides various television viewing enhancements to a number of different professional sporting events. They work with NFL, NBA, NASCAR, NHL, MLB, PGA and college football broadcasts....
and eLearning platform provider eCollege
ECollege
eCollege is an on-demand, or Software as a Service , provider of eLearning software and services to secondary and post-secondary learning institutions. Founded in 1996 as Real Education, the company went public in 2002 as eCollege.com...
.
Pritzker played an important role in the creation of the Illinois Venture Capital Association, the nation's top regional private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
association and in the creation of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center. He also co-founded the public/private Illinois Innovation Accelerator Fund. Pritzker has received awards and community recognition for his efforts to build a stronger technology sector in the Midwest.
He is also co-founder and managing partner of the Pritzker Group, a private investment firm acquiring late stage companies in a wide range of business sectors, including industrial manufacturing and distribution, business services, media and technology. Acquisitions have included aircraft safety products manufacturer Amsafe
AmSafe
AmSafe Inc. is a manufacturer of air safety and securement products to the aerospace, defense, and ground transportation industries and maker of aircraft seatbelts. AmSafe makes the Aviation Inflatable Restraint , a seatbelt airbag approved by the FAA designed to improve occupant protection from...
, investment casting manufacturer Signicast and construction materials distributor Carter-Waters.
Philanthropy
Pritzker is one of the nation’s chief philanthropists in early childhood development. As the Pritzker Family Foundation’s president, he created the Children’s Initiative, which funds innovative research and programs serving children in poverty. Under the leadership of Nobel Prize-winning economist James HeckmanJames Heckman
James Joseph Heckman is an American economist and Nobel laureate. He is the Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, Professor of Science and Society at University College Dublin and a Senior Research Fellow at the American Bar Foundation.Heckman...
, he supported the creation of the Pritzker Consortium on Early Childhood Development at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
.
Along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It is "driven by the interests and passions of the Gates family"...
, the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, the Irving Harris
Irving Harris
Irving B. Harris was an American businessman and philanthropist. With his brother, he co-founded the Toni Home Permanent Company, which was sold to the Gillette Safety Razor Co...
Foundation and the George Kaiser
George Kaiser
George B. Kaiser is an American businessman. He is the Chairman of BOK Financial Corporation. He is among the top 100 richest people in the world and one of the top 50 American philanthropists.-Early life and career:...
Family Foundation, the Pritzker Family Foundation is a founding supporter of the First Five Years Fund, an organization focusing nationwide attention and resources on comprehensive, quality early care and learning programs for children from birth to age five.
As chairman of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center
Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center
The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center is the main memorial and educational center for The Holocaust in the Midwestern United States...
, which opened in 2009, Pritzker successfully led the effort to build an international institution in the Midwest dedicated to teaching the lessons of the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
and other genocides. Pritzker is the principal funder of Cambodia Tribunal Monitor, the most significant online source for news and commentaries regarding the international criminal tribunal created to bring to justice the perpetrators of Pol Pot
Pol Pot
Saloth Sar , better known as Pol Pot, , was a Cambodian Maoist revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge from 1963 until his death in 1998. From 1976 to 1979, he served as the Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea....
era acts of genocide. He served as chairman of the Illinois Human Rights Commission, and was succeeded by former White House counsel and Federal Judge Abner J. Mikva
Abner J. Mikva
Abner Joseph Mikva is a Democratic former U.S. Representative, federal judge and law professor from Chicago.-Biography:Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mikva attended the University of Chicago Law School, from which he graduated in 1951...
.
In 2011, Milton Academy dedicated the Pritzker Science Center for which Pritzker provided the lead gift. Pritzker is a trustee and serves on the investment committee of Northwestern University and is a member of the Board of Governors of Northwestern University School of Law. He is a trustee of the Field Museum of Natural History
Field Museum of Natural History
The Field Museum of Natural History is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It sits on Lake Shore Drive next to Lake Michigan, part of a scenic complex known as the Museum Campus Chicago...
and a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and the Commercial Club of Chicago
Commercial Club of Chicago
The Commercial Club of Chicago is an anti-labor club resulted from the 1907 merger of two predecessor Chicago clubs: the Merchants Club and the Commercial Club . Its most active members included George Pullman, Marshall Field, Cyrus McCormick, George Armour, Frederic Delano, Sewell Avery, Rufus...
.
Political
In the 2008 Presidential election, Pritzker served as national co-chairman of the Hillary Clinton for President campaign and as a delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention2008 Democratic National Convention
The United States 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. The convention was held in Denver,...
. He supported President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
in the 2008 general election and helped bring the Clinton and Obama campaigns in Illinois together.
Pritzker founded Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century, a national organization dedicated to attracting voters under the age of 40 to the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
. He also served on the legislative staff of U.S. Senator Terry Sanford
Terry Sanford
James Terry Sanford was a United States politician and educator from North Carolina. A member of the Democratic Party, Sanford was the 65th Governor of North Carolina , a two-time U.S. Presidential candidate in the 1970s and a U.S. Senator...
(D-NC), U.S. Senator Alan J. Dixon
Alan J. Dixon
Alan John Dixon is a Democratic politician who was elected to various Illinois state offices from 1951 to 1981 and served as United States Senator from Illinois from 1981 until 1993.-Biography:...
(D-IL) and U.S. Congressman Tom Lantos
Tom Lantos
Thomas Peter "Tom" Lantos was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1981 until his death, representing the northern two-thirds of San Mateo County and a portion of southwest San Francisco...
(D-CA), for whom he handled issues such as international trade, election reform and handgun control.
In 1998, he ran for U.S. Congress, principally focusing on the issues of education and gun control
Gun control
Gun control is any law, policy, practice, or proposal designed to restrict or limit the possession, production, importation, shipment, sale, and/or use of guns or other firearms by private citizens...
, and lost in a heavily contested five-way primary in Illinois's 9th US Congressional district.
Awards and recognition
- In 2008, Pritzker received the Entrepreneurial Champion Award from the Chicagoland Chamber of CommerceChicagoland Chamber of CommerceThe Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit organization promoting business in the Chicago metropolitan area of the United States. The Chamber is a voice at local, state and national levels for approximately 2,600 member companies and their 1.3 million employees...
for his efforts to promote economic development and job creation. - The Chicago Sun-TimesChicago Sun-TimesThe Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
named Pritzker to its "Hot 100" most prominent members of Chicago's technology economy. - He received the Spirit of Erikson InstituteErikson InstituteErikson Institute is a graduate school in child development located in downtown Chicago, Illinois. It is named for the noted psychoanalyst and developmental psychologist, Erik Erikson.-History and mission:...
Award for his creation of the Children's Initiative. - As chairman of the Illinois Human Rights Commission, he was recognized for his outstanding achievement in reforming the state’s chief civil rights adjudicatory agency for housing and employment discrimination.
- Pritzker was named “Business Executive of the Year” by the Illinois State Crime Commission for his activities on behalf of crime victims and police officers.
- In 1994, Campaigns and Elections' Politics magazine named Pritzker one of the “Rising Stars” of the Democratic Party.